1. Field of Invention
Solar heating and air conditioning, and solar siding elements therefor.
2. Prior Art
In the home building field, relatively low cost, single thickness strips of wood or sheet metal, known to the trade as siding, have been nailed or otherwise fastened to the exterior walls of buildings, a common form being known as lap siding. Generally, such siding is to protect the building structure from the elements, eliminate painting, and improve the aesthetics of the building.
Heretofore, various solar radiation collecting devices have been devised for buildings, but these have not found broad application mainly due to their excessive initial cost and to the direct and indirect costs of installation.
One such device is known as a solar panel, assemblies of which are maintained in proper oriented fixed position relative to the sun, usually by mounting the panels on building roofs in positions to receive solar radiation. Such solar panels have a number of disadvantages. They are generally arranged in flat areas on the roof and thus retain snow, ice, and the like, which decrease their efficiency and further introduce dangers of breakage or collapse under the snow load or heavy winds. Also they are very subject to displacement in their entirety by heavy winds. Further, the exposure areas are limited. Since the efficiency of solar thermal transfer diminishes in relation to the difference of the collector temperature and the temperature of the ambient air, the panel systems, due to the limited areas exposed to solar radiation because of the limited areas for southern orientation and exposure, must generate exceedingly high temperatures to attain good solar efficiency.
Another type of solar device is the dual glazed window, but the heat loss through these, after the sunshine hours, is excessive.
Most of these prior solar devices are mounted for a southern exposure only, and thus utilize the solar radiation impinging on only a limited part of the house, and then only for a limited part of the day.
Again, many of the prior devices present problems in compliance with existing building codes, due not only to the structural changes in buildings required for their installation and support, but also from the aesthetic standpoint.
Another prior device is the self-contained solar heat collecting unit detached from the house, but these generally are complex and expensive, requiring not only numerous controls for effective operation, but also expensive servicing and provisions for their own protection against winter freezing.
Prior passive solar systems, known as natural systems, use a mass of masonary material to receive and absorb solar radiation, but these materials generally have low specific heat and low conductivity, and hence introduce a thermal time lag and inefficiency, both in absorbing and re-emitting heat, with the resultant severe fluctuations in the building temperature. Further, they cannot be programmed readily for ranges from high daytime temperatures to low night temperatures.